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There is a particular moment that I have come to love with travel. It is the moment you step off the plane and into the atmosphere of the new country to which you have arrived. My first step, I remember the air smelling sweet and fresh once the smell of fumes from the airplane had been taken away with the breeze. It is in that moment that I land, not only on the ground, but in my excitement of the reality that a new adventure is now.

We were a community within a community, sharing and emerging together. Travelling in a group is very different to travelling alone, with family or a partner. It is not something I had ever experienced before and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to experience it. Our community consisted of nurses and midwives, individuals with a passion to help others, teachers and what became strong group of peers. A lot of us did not know each other so we were learning about the community we travelled with, the new community we were amongst, and the sub communities within. In the two weeks abroad in Vanuatu we merged ourselves into the local community. It is the community within the country you travel too that makes the experience.

Walking down new streets, watching how the children play, loading as many of us as we could into a bus to travel around the islands to explore that local highlights. Together, we learnt about our surroundings, what we could and could not do compared to what we were used to doing at home. I found that I was not only learning new things about the surroundings and people I was travelling with, I was also learning new things about myself. Each step of the way we were given the opportunity to decided what type of person we wanted to be, how we wanted to represent the country, community and university that we stood for.